1. The first spring or cause of this union, and of all the other causes of it, lieth in that eternal compact that was between the Father and the Son concerning the recovery and salvation of fallen mankind. Herein, among other things, as the effects thereof, the assumption of our nature (the foundation of this union) was designed. The na- ture and terms of this compact, counsel, and agreement, I have de- clared elsewhere ; and therefore must not here again insist upon it. But the relation between Christ and the church, proceeding from hence, and so being an effect of infinite wisdom, in the counsel of the Father and Son, to be made effectual by the Holy Spirit, must be distinguished from all other unions or relations whatever.
2. The Lord Christ, as unto the nature which he was to assume, was hereon predestinated unto grace and glory. He was it^oiyvMa- /jbhog, — " fore-ordained," predestinated, " before the foundation of the world," 1 Pet. i. 20 ; that is, he was so, as unto his office, so unto all the grace and glory required thereunto, and consequent thereon. All the grace and glory of the human nature of Christ was an effect
ISO ON JUSTIFICATION.
of free divine j^re-ordination. God chose it from all eternity unto a participation of all which it received in time. Neither can any other cause of the glorious exaltation of that portion of our nature be as- signed.
8. This grace and glory whereunto he was pre-ordained was two- fold:— (1.) That Vy'hich was 2^€C^diar unto himself ; (2.) That which was to be communicated, by and through himj unto the church. (1.) Of the fir^st sort was the %ap;s svuiesus, — the grace of personal xinion; that single effect of divine wisdom (whereof there is no sha- dow nor resemblance in any other works of God, either of creation, providence, or grace), which his nature was filled withal : " Full of grace and truth." And all his personal glory, power, authority, and majesty as mediator, in his exaltation at the right hand of God, which is expressive of them all, do belong hereunto. These things were peculiar unto him, and all of them effects of his eternal predestination. But,— ^(2.) He was not thus predestinated absolutely, but also with re- spect unto that grace and glory which in him and by him was to be communicated unto the church. And he was so, —
[1.] As the pattern and exemplary cause of our predestination; for we are " predestinated to be conformed unto the image of the Son of God, that he might be the first-born among many brethren," Rom. viii. 29. Hence he shall even " change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body," Phil. iii. 21 ; that when he appears we may be every way like him, 1 John iii. 2.
[2.] As the means and cause of communicating all grace and glory unto us; for we are " chosen in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and predestinated unto the adoption of children by him," Eph. i. 8-5. He was designed as the only pro- curing cause of all spiritual blessings in heavenly things unto those who are chosen in him. Wherefore, —
[8.] He was \X\Vi& fore-ordained as the head of the church ; it being the design of God to gather all things into a head in him, Eph. i. 10.
[4.] All the elect of God were, in his eternal purpose and design, and in the everlasting covenant between the Father and the Son, committed unto him, to be delivered from sin, the law, and death, and to be brought into the enjoyment of God : " Thine they were, and thou gavest them me," John xvii. 6. Hence was that love of his unto them wherewith he loved them, and gave himself for them, antecedently unto any good or love in them, Eph. v. 25, 26; Gal. ii. 20; Rev. i. 5, 6.
[5.] In the prosecution of this design of God, and in the accom- plishment of the everlasting covenant, in the fulness of time he took u]^on him our nature, or took it into personal subsistence with him- self The especial relation that ensued hereon between him and the
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elect children the apostle declares at large, Heb. ii. 10-17; and I refer the reader imto our exposition of that place.
[6.] On these foundations he undertook to be the surety of the neiv covenant, Heb. vii. 22, " Jesus was made a surety of a better testament." This alone, of all the fundamental considerations of the imputation of our sins unto Christ, I shall insist upon, on purpose to obviate or remove some mistakes about the nature of his suretishvp, and the respect of it unto the covenant whereof he was the surety. And I shall borrow what I shall offer hereon from our exposition of this passage of the apostle in the seventh chapter of this epistle, not yet published, with very little variation from what I have discoursed on that occasion, without the least respect unto, or prospect of, any treating on our present subject.
— The word 'iyyvog is nowhere found in the Scripture but in this place only ; but the advantage which some would make from thence, — namely, that it being hut one place wherein the Lord Christ is called a surety, it is not of much force, or much to be insisted on, — is both unreasonable and absurd; for, — 1st. This one place is of divine revelation ; and therefore is of the same authority with tAventy testi- monies unto the same purpose. One divine testimony makes our faith no less necessary, nor doth one less secure it from being deceived than a hundred.